This invention relates to communication systems and methods used with gaming machines such as video slot machines and video poker machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing open architecture communications systems that may incorporate the use of numerous vendor proprietary protocols.
Gaming machines, such as a slot machine or video poker machine, are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Many slot and gaming machines now employ processor driven systems that output information on CRT video display screens in place of more traditional mechanically-driven reel displays.
There are a wide variety of associated devices that can now be connected to a processor driven gaming machine. Some examples of these devices are player tracking units, lights, ticket printers, card readers, speakers, bill validators, ticket readers, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, coin hoppers and button pads. Many of these devices are built into the gaming machine or components associated with the gaming machine such as a top box which usually sits on top of the gaming machine.
Typically, utilizing a master gaming controller, the gaming machine manages various combinations of devices that allow a player to play a game on the gaming machine and also encourage game play on the gaming machine. For example, a game played on a gaming machine usually requires a player to input money or indicia of credit into the gaming machine, indicate a wager amount, and initiate a game play. These steps require the gaming machine to manage input devices, including bill validators and coin acceptors, to accept money into the gaming machine and recognize user inputs from devices, including key pads and button pads, to determine the wager amount and initiate game play. After game play has been initiated, the gaming machine determines a game outcome, presents the game outcome to the player and may dispense an award of some type depending on the outcome of the game.
The operations described above may be carried out on a gaming machine when the gaming machine is operating as a xe2x80x9cstand alonexe2x80x9d unit or linked in a network of some type to a group of gaming machines. As technology in the gaming industry progresses, more and more gaming services are being provided to gaming machines via proprietary networks that link groups of gaming machines to a remote computer that provides one or more proprietary gaming services. As an example, gaming services that may be provided by a remote computer to a gaming machine via a proprietary network of some type include player tracking services, accounting services, electronic funds transfers to/from the machine, external wins/awards, ticket redemption, lottery services, progressive game services and bonus games.
Typically, network gaming services enhance the game playing capabilities of the gaming machine or provide some operational advantage in regards to maintaining the gaming machine. Thus, gaming services provided to groups of gaming machines linked over a proprietary network have become very desirable in the gaming industry.
A current barrier to increasing the number of network gaming services provided to groups of gaming machines is the complexity of the proprietary communication networks associated with providing those network gaming services. Within the gaming industry, the evolution of network gaming services has produced a gaming service network environment where each network gaming service is provided utilizing a separate proprietary communication protocol, and associated network hardware. As a result, the communication protocols and hardware used to provide one network gaming service by one manufacturer is typically incompatible with the communication protocol and hardware used to provide a second network gaming service provided by another manufacturer.
As a result, the current proprietary networked gaming arena uses many proprietary gaming services that have been developed by different manufactures and rely on an abundant number of independent and concurrently running proprietary communication protocols and networks. Thus, to provide four network gaming services to a gaming machine, such as player tracking, bonus games, progressive games and cashless ticketing, four separate communication protocols and hardware networks are typically used.
For gaming machine operators and gaming machine manufacturers, a number of disadvantages arise from the lack of standardization. A first disadvantage is that the variations of hardware and protocols from manufacturer to manufacturer add to the complexity of the design and maintenance of a gaming machine network. Currently, there are at least 19 different companies that manufacture player tracking units that can be mounted in a gaming machine. Each of these companies use different hardware and different communication protocols to implement their player tracking unit.
Other disadvantages include: 1) disruptions to gaming operations when a new gaming service network is added, 2) the cost of installing entirely new network hardware or implementing a new protocol each time a gaming service is added, 3) costs associated with maintaining a complex network involving multiple gaming service networks and protocols supported by different vendors and 4) difficulties associated with moving gaming machines connected to a complex set of multiple gaming service hardware networks (e.g. to reconfigure a casino floor).
In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide a gaming machine network that reduces complexity of gaming machine networks.
This invention provides gaming machine systems and methods that implement open architecture communication and allow flexible data transmission between gaming machines and other devices and nodes connected to a gaming machine network. The gaming machine and other devices employ a communication interface that sends and receives data via a common communication protocol. The communication interface and common communication protocol allow data transfer between gaming machines and other network nodes such as gaming service servers, despite the presence of different proprietary gaming machine functions and proprietary communication protocolsxe2x80x94and despite the presence of various proprietary hardware and proprietary communication protocols relied on by the servers.
Regardless of the originating format, gaming machine data and messages according to the present invention are packaged and transmitted across the network according to the common network protocol. A receiving communication interface then unpackages the data from the common network protocol and may process or further transmit the data as desired. A communication interface is thus associated with each end of the transmission. More specifically, a communication interface packagesxe2x80x94and unpackagesxe2x80x94gaming machine data and messages intoxe2x80x94and out ofxe2x80x94the common network communication protocol from one or more non-network communication protocols. For example, the communication interface may package data normally transmitted in a proprietary gaming machine communication protocol into the common network communication protocol for a wide array of proprietary communication protocols and gaming machine services on one common pipe.
The techniques of the present invention may use common hardware to communicate across the network. This reduces the amount of wiring and associated hardware required to communicate across the network in all the dissimilar proprietary communication protocols normally used. Thus, communication interfaces as described herein allow a gaming machine to send and receive data originally transmitted across native and proprietary hardwarexe2x80x94without requiring the gaming machine to implement the dedicated and disparate proprietary hardware, such as network wiring, outside of the communication interface. In some cases, a common network connection from the communication interface may be used for communication with numerous servers that each employs a different proprietary communication protocol.
The techniques of the present invention are particularly useful when a number of gaming machine functions on a gaming machine each operate with a different communication protocol and different communication hardware. For example, a first communication interface (i.e. layer) of the present invention may be responsible for re-packaging gaming machine data produced (and conventionally transmitted) in a proprietary gaming machine communication protocol into a common network protocol. The first network interface may be associated with a gaming machine server that provides services such as progressive game services, bonus game services, player tracking services, cashless ticketing services, game downloading services, prize services, entertainment content services, concierge services, lottery services and money transfer services. Each service may utilize a different communication protocol. A second network interface layer may then be responsible for unpackaging the data from the common network protocol. The second network interface may be included in a gaming machine or included in a peripheral device associated with the gaming machine, e.g., in a player tracking unit. For the player tracking unit, the interface may also be responsible for further transmitting the data to the gaming machine (or a peripheral device associated with the gaming machine awaiting the transmission) in the proprietary gaming machine communication protocol.
The communication interface may be employed in the open architecture network in a number of ways. In one embodiment, a gaming machine of the present invention includes the communication interface within the gaming machine, e.g., on a communication board. It is also contemplated that a peripheral device, such as a player tracking unit, in communication with the gaming machine may include the communication interface. In another embodiment, the communication interface is a dedicated communication peripheral device in communication with the gaming machine. Further, servers that provide a gaming service in the gaming network, such as general accounting and player tracking servers, may employ a communication interface that translates between proprietary communication protocols and the common network protocol. Regardless of where it is implemented in a gaming machine network, the communication interface may be thought of as a translator between any proprietary communication protocols and the common network protocol.
In one aspect, the present invention relates to a gaming machine implemented on a gaming machine network. The gaming machine comprises a master gaming controller designed or configured to manage a game played on the gaming machine. The gaming machine employs a first communication protocol for implementing a first gaming machine function and employs a second communication protocol for implementing a second gaming machine function. The gaming machine also comprises a communication interface device in communication with the master gaming controller. The communication interface device is designed or configured to communicate data in both the first and second communication protocols and communicate the data in a third communication protocol over a gaming machine network using the third communication protocol.
In another aspect, the present invention relates to a communication interface for communicating between a gaming machine and a gaming machine network. The interface comprises multiple non-network communication ports. The first non-network communication ports allows communication of data according to communication protocol one. The second non-network communication ports, allows communication of data according to communication protocol two. The interface also comprises a network communication port. The network communication port allows communication of data according to a third communication protocol.
In yet another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of providing data between a gaming machine and one or more gaming machine servers in a gaming machine network. The method comprises configuring a first communication port included in a communication interface to communicate data according to a first communication protocol used by a first gaming machine function on the gaming machine. The method also comprises configuring a second communication port included in the communication interface to communicate data according to a second communication protocol used by a second gaming machine function on the gaming machine. The method further comprises establishing a communication connection between the communication interface and a server in the network using a third communication protocol. The method additionally comprises transmitting data from the server to the communication interface using the third communication protocol. The method also comprises converting the data from the third communication protocol to one of the first and second communication protocols. The method further comprises transmitting the data from the communication interface to a processor in the gaming machine or to a peripheral device associated with the gaming machine in the one of the first and second non-network communication protocols.
In still another aspect, the present invention relates to a gaming machine implemented on a gaming machine network. The gaming machine comprises a master gaming controller designed or configured to manage a game played on the gaming machine. The gaming machine employs a first proprietary communication protocol for implementing a first proprietary gaming machine function. The gaming machine also employs a second proprietary communication protocol for implementing a second proprietary gaming machine function. The second proprietary communication protocol is different from the first proprietary communication protocol. The gaming machine also comprises a communication interface device in communication with the master gaming controller. The communication interface device is designed or configured to communicate data in both the first and second communication protocols and communicate the data in a third communication protocol over a gaming machine network using the third communication protocol.
In another aspect, the present invention relates to a player tracking unit in communication with a gaming machine and a gaming machine network. The player tracking unit comprises processor logic that employs a player tracking communication protocol for implementing a player tracking service. The player tracking unit comprises a communication interface device in communication with the gaming machine and the gaming machine network. The communication interface device is designed or configured to communicate data in both the player tracking communication protocol and a second communication protocol with the gaming machine and communicate the data in a third communication protocol over the network using a third communication protocol.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a player tracking system. The player tracking system may be generally characterized as including: a player tracking server, a plurality of gaming machines with player tracking units and a network designed or configured to allow communication between the plurality of gaming machines and the player tracking server. The player tracking server and gaming machines each employ a common and non-proprietary communication protocol and hardware.
Another aspect of the invention pertains to computer program products including a machine-readable medium on which is stored program instructions for implementing the methods described herein. Any of the methods of this invention may be represented as program instructions and/or data structures, databases, etc. that can be provided on such computer readable media such as smart card, compact flash memory card, memory stick, RAM, CD-ROM, CD-DVD, hard drive, etc.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the associated drawings.